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Hornet Sting Treatment

OK, so the hornets are out in force this time of year. No biggee if only a few stings. I'm not allergic. How about more than that? What's the first aid? Benadryl? (I'll be carrying Zyrtec for allergies) I would like at least a fighting chance that I wouldn't have to go to the ER - that would suck.

I carry a small bottle of bleach which I use immediately on any insect bite.Just a drop is all. I've used this for years as my kids were always getting bit. It also works well when you step on a nail or even when you stick a pitchfork in your foot. (one of my more stupid actions)

I carry a small bottle of bleach which I use immediately on any insect bite.Just a drop is all. I've used this for years as my kids were always getting bit. It also works well when you step on a nail or even when you stick a pitchfork in your foot. (one of my more stupid actions)

For those of us that are allergic ME ME ME. I carry 2 epipens on the trail. As far as immediate relief I find that the bleach method works quite well yet have not found a way to carry it on the trail securely.

Best thing for bee/wasp/hornet stings is to take smoking tobacco , from a cigarette or rolling tobacco pouch and place good amount in your mouth and chew it slightly till is gets good and slobbery .Place the spit soaked slobbery mass of tobacco over the offending sting and hold it there for about 20-30 minutes. I know it sounds odd but it works.

What about using household ammonia on the sting?
Some of us rednecks chew up a cigarette and paste it
on the sting which works pretty good from my experience but
of course I have never been bit by a hornet.(got bit by the
love bug a long time ago and used a diamond for that rememdy-it worked)

I hear the first thing you do after a hornet sting is to get
back upright as they can knock a full grown man to the ground.
I wonder if that's a wives tale though.
Oldfivetango

OK, so the hornets are out in force this time of year. No biggee if only a few stings. I'm not allergic. How about more than that? What's the first aid? Benadryl? (I'll be carrying Zyrtec for allergies) I would like at least a fighting chance that I wouldn't have to go to the ER - that would suck.

Wasp and Hornet stings are actually venomous ... applying baking soda can help but take the stinger out immediately; apply ice or if hiking cold water will work and make paste out of baking soda

Some of us rednecks chew up a cigarette and paste it
on the sting which works pretty good from my experience but
of course I have never been bit by a hornet.

Chewing a cigarette is a bad idea as nicotine is a potent poison when orally ingested. Putting saliva on an open wound is not a good idea, either, as it can lead to infection.

Here is appropriate advice for hornet stings that has is based on effectiveness (science/reality) and is unlikely to cause harm:

First Aid
For emergencies (severe reactions):

Check the person's airway and breathing. If necessary, call 911 and begin rescue breathing and CPR.

Reassure the person. Try to keep him or her calm.

Remove nearby rings and constricting items because the affected area may swell.

Use the person's Epi-pen or other emergency kit, if they have one. (Some people who have serious insect reactions carry it with them.)

If appropriate, treat the person for signs of shock. Remain with the person until medical help arrives.

General steps for most bites and stings:

Remove the stinger if still present by scraping the back of a credit card or other straight-edged object across the stinger. Do not use tweezers -- these may squeeze the venom sac and increase the amount of venom released.

Wash the site thoroughly with soap and water.

Place ice (wrapped in a washcloth) on the site of the sting for 10 minutes and then off for 10 minutes. Repeat this process.

If necessary, take an antihistamine or apply creams that reduce itching.

Over the next several days, watch for signs of infection (such as increasing redness, swelling, or pain).

I got a couple of wasp stings a while back and a paramedic friend recommended good old Ibuprofen. It reduces swelling and pain. I think that did more for me than some of the other odd remedies I tried, including some herbal stuff a friend gave me to rub on that just made my hand greasy and funny-smelling.

Chewing a cigarette is a bad idea as nicotine is a potent poison when orally ingested. Putting saliva on an open wound is not a good idea, either, as it can lead to infection.

Here is appropriate advice for hornet stings that has is based on effectiveness (science/reality) and is unlikely to cause harm:

First Aid
For emergencies (severe reactions):

Check the person's airway and breathing. If necessary, call 911 and begin rescue breathing and CPR.

Reassure the person. Try to keep him or her calm.

Remove nearby rings and constricting items because the affected area may swell.

Use the person's Epi-pen or other emergency kit, if they have one. (Some people who have serious insect reactions carry it with them.)

If appropriate, treat the person for signs of shock. Remain with the person until medical help arrives.

General steps for most bites and stings:

Remove the stinger if still present by scraping the back of a credit card or other straight-edged object across the stinger. Do not use tweezers -- these may squeeze the venom sac and increase the amount of venom released.

Wash the site thoroughly with soap and water.

Place ice (wrapped in a washcloth) on the site of the sting for 10 minutes and then off for 10 minutes. Repeat this process.

If necessary, take an antihistamine or apply creams that reduce itching.

Over the next several days, watch for signs of infection (such as increasing redness, swelling, or pain).

Newsflash a insect sting isnt an "open wound" unless you consider a puncture hole the size of a small hypodermic needle an "open wound" . Nor does the tobacco method I mentioned actually call for orally ingesting tobacco. If it was such a potent poison then tobacco chewers would be falling dead in droves from tobacco juice ingestation. The tobacco method works...........you dont have to use it if you dont like/want to.....but it does work..........

I will never do the baking soda paste again. My son had two infected bee sites from using it (I thought that was best but it wasn't) requiring oral antibiotic treatment. Instant removal of the sitnger and using ice and antiseptic solution on the wound is the best. And Tylenol for pain - it can really hurt.

Do hornets leave a stinger? Several referred to removing the stinger and I 'm familiar with that in honeybees. I have not had a stinger left in me by wasps, bumblebees, or yellow jackets, but maybe their "needles" could break off. So far, I have been spared an introduction to hornet stings.

Can't answer that one, so I'll add another source of confusion. Recently I've been around folks that called yellow jackets "ground hornets." To the best of my knowledge the insect that's doing most of the stinging around the southeast is yellow jackets. According to wikipedia yellow jackets are wasps, and not hornets.

Not that I really cared about technical differences when I was beating feet to get away from a nest.

Can't answer that one, so I'll add another source of confusion. Recently I've been around folks that called yellow jackets "ground hornets." To the best of my knowledge the insect that's doing most of the stinging around the southeast is yellow jackets. According to wikipedia yellow jackets are wasps, and not hornets.

Not that I really cared about technical differences when I was beating feet to get away from a nest.

The paper nest we saw lying on the ground along the Bald River Trail was a hornet nest. Yellow Jackets are ground nesters. This seems to be a particularly bad year for them.

I know that, but Tipi kept referring to the yellow jackets that got after us as ground hornets.

Seems like the last two, maybe three years have been unusually bad for yellow jackets. Never got hit by yellow jackets before that, don't seem to be able to go hiking in the late summer without running into them somewhere.

I guess it it where you are located. We have mostly Yellowjackets. Not too many Hornets. The Yellowjackets here nest mostly under the eaves of buildings or the to window trim just up out of reach. Trees and buses too.

And to the other poster, yes they do leave the stinger in. I have used the baking soda method to remove stingers. Never done any of the other stuff. I gues I am not real allergic to them.

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Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.